A CALL TO ACTION
TO REDUCE SUMMER LEARNING LOSS AMONG OUR NATIONíS CHILDREN AND YOUTH

††††††††††† Whereas, low-income students across the
country who lack stimulating summer activities lose two months of grade-level
equivalency in reading every summer, and all students lose two months of math
skills; and

††††††††††† WHEREAS,
summer learning loss hits children from low-income families particularly hard,
with the cumulative losses over the years exacerbating achievement gaps between
them and their more affluent peers and increasing the likelihood they will drop
out of high school; and

††††††††††† WHEREAS, students who lose
too much ground over the summer in the early grades often fail to master
reading by the end of third grade
(reducing summer learning loss is therefore a core pillar of the comprehensive
strategy adopted by the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading for ensuring that
children learn to read by the end of third grade so they can read to learn in
later grades); and†

††††††††††† WHEREAS,summer learning
loss can lead to placement in less rigorous high school courses, higher high
school dropout rates, and lower college attendance; and

††††††††††† WHEREAS, a Johns Hopkins University study of Baltimore City Public
School students found that about two-thirds of the ninth grade achievement gap
in reading between lower-and higher-income youth can be explained by unequal
access to summer learning opportunities during the elementary school years; and

††††††††††† WHEREAS, children living in poverty
also face hunger and food insecurity in the summer (six out of every seven
low-income students who receive free-and reduced-price lunches during the school
year lose access to them in the summer); and

††††††††††† WHEREAS,two-thirds of teachers polled report that they spend at least
three to four weeks re-teaching material from the previous year at the
beginning of each school year. Thus, summer learning loss affects every child
in the classroom and undermines efforts to improve school performance, since it
slows down instruction; and

††††††††††† WHEREAS,engaging summer learning programs that focus on academic
activities, as well as recreation and cultural enrichment, can stop the summer
slide and actually contribute to academic gains for low-income children; and

††††††††††† WHEREAS, libraries, book distribution
programs and innovative technology platforms can put reading materials in the
hands of children during the summer and help keep their reading skills fresh;
and

††††††††††† WHEREAS, cities are in an excellent
position to coordinate and expand access to summer opportunities by bringing
together schools, community organizations, libraries, recreation centers, and
other partners to ensure children are engaged in enriching activities during
the summer,

††††††††††† NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that
The United States Conference of Mayors endorses the National Summer Learning
Associationís efforts to promote Summer Learning Day and to provide tools for
cities that want to expand access and increase the quality of summer learning
programs; and

††††††††††† BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that
The United States Conference of Mayors endorses and supports the efforts by the
125 communities in the Grade-Level Reading Communities Network to address
summer learning loss, along with reducing chronic absence, and increasing
school readiness, (the Campaign is dedicated to improving early literacy by
supporting community solutions to these three widespread, but solvable
challenges); and

††††††††††† BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that
The United States Conference of Mayors calls upon its members to support
efforts to reduce summer learning loss, including those to:

∑Raise public awareness and concern
about the dire impact of the summer slide; and

∑Scan city and community programs and
resources to determine how much access children from low-income families have
to engaging summer learning programs, books and learning technology platforms;
and

∑Bring together city agencies and
community partners to broaden access to summer learning programs in subsequent
years; and

∑Support efforts to implement
high-quality summer learning programs and integrate them seamlessly with the
school year.